Kid Rock is set to be feted for his support of the U.S. military both in America and abroad. The All Summer Long hitmaker, who has been a long-time supporter of the military and has performed at various bases over the years, will be the recipient of the 2014 Patriot Award from officials at the non-profit Operation Troop Aid (OTA) organisation.
Mark Woods, founder and executive director of OTA, praises Kid Rock's efforts in a statement which reads: "Kid Rock is one of the most giving entertainers I have ever met. He really gets it.
"His art, legacy of family and spirit of patriotism is exactly why this award exists."
His generosity is exemplified in the challenge Kid Rock recently put out to his fans, in which he's raising funds for OTA to provide care packages for military troops overseas.
The singer took on the same fundraiser last year (13), in which he helped garner enough money to ship over 500 boxes to members of the military.
Kid Rock follows in the footsteps of Hank Williams, Jr., who was bestowed the Patriot Award last year (13), as well as previous recipients such as Toby Keith, KISS, Gary Sinise and Charlie Daniels.

"It's funny, because we have obviously spent a lot of time in the studio with Rob and about two years ago he said, 'I've got all these songs and I don't know what to do with them, so I'm going to put them on an album one day'. 'So it's not a surprise he's doing it, but it is a surprise it's out this week. He played us most of them and there are some cracking songs because whatever Rob writes is good." Gary Barlow on former bandmate Robbie Williams' decision to release his website-only new album on the same day as Take That's III.

Pop star Robbie Williams thrilled fans of British band Take That on Monday (01Dec14) by confirming plans to reunite with the group. Williams quit in 1995 to pursue a successful solo career, but he rejoined in 2010 for the recording of a new album and reunion tour.
He subsequently drifted away from his bandmates again, and they were reduced to a three-piece in September (14) when Jason Orange announced he had stepped down from the line-up.
Remaining members Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen are confident Williams will rejoin them in 2017 to mark the 25th anniversary of their chart breakthrough in 1992 - and now Williams has revealed a reunion is in the pipeline.
He tells fans on Facebook.com, "I'm pretty sure I'll be re-joining Take That. When and where, I don't know..."
Earlier, Barlow revealed he was confident of working with his former bandmate again, telling British newspaper The Sun, "It would be nice to put all the music from the Nineties and now on one compilation and do a tour that would have to be bigger...
"Rob will be back soon. We have a good time with Rob. He adores being in the studio and he loves the process of writing with us."

British boyband Take That's first album since becoming a three-piece has broken pre-order records on Amazon.co.uk. Bandmate Jason Orange quit the group in September (14) and the remaining members - Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald - will release their first disc as a trio, the aptly-titled III, on Monday (01Dec14).
It has now become the most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon U.K., knocking Pink Floyd off the top spot after less than a month. The veteran rockers held the record ahead of the release of The Endless River on 10 November (14).
It is Take That's third album on the most pre-ordered chart - their 2008 disc The Circus sits at number 10 and 2010's Progress, the only reunion album featuring original member Robbie Williams, is in fifth place.
The boyband has withheld III from music-streaming service Spotify until January (15), favouring rival Google Play Music instead.

The remaining members of British boyband Take That begged Jason Orange to stay in the group. Orange announced his departure last month (Sep14), leaving Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald to press ahead with the release of the band's next album without him.
Speaking to Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, Barlow says, "We've known for a while that Jay was like 'I don't know if I'm doing this or not.' At the end of last year we said, 'We're going to start, is that OK?' You can see how you feel during the year. We left a big space for him on the record."
Donald explains the group played Orange some of the new music in a bid to entice him to stay, adding, "Me and Mark played it to him in the hope he'd think. 'Yeah, I'll get onboard.'"
Despite attempts to keep the group together, Owen admits they had to face up to the reality of the situation: "We hit the point where we could do nothing else. Then it became real."
Orange's departure is the second the group has suffered after Robbie Williams left in 1995 and embarked on a solo career before briefly rejoining in 2010.

Actor Billy Crystal struggled through his Emmy Awards tribute to his late friend Robin Williams at last month's (Aug14) ceremony, branding the stage salute "the hardest thing" he has ever done. The When Harry Met Sally star agreed to memorialise his Oscar-winning pal following his death days earlier on 11 August (14), and during his touching speech, Crystal remembered Williams as a comedic "genius" and "the greatest friend you could ever imagine".
However, Crystal, who reveals he and Williams used to speak "three, four times a day sometimes", admits honouring the Good Will Hunting actor in public so soon after the tragedy was a really tough task.
He says, "I think it's the hardest thing I've ever done. It was only two weeks to the day of the Emmys that everything had happened (Williams had died).
"They (Emmy bosses) called me and said, 'Would you do it?' and I said, 'Of course', but then came the task of doing it right and being sort of the spokesman for everybody, in front of 17 million people. He was my closest friend and to do it with some humour and in only a short period of time that I had to do it was difficult."
But Crystal will always have fond memories of his longtime friendship with Williams and his numerous pranks, including one he played last year (13).
He recalls, "When it was announced that I was coming back to Broadway, there was, what must have been like, 50 (phone) messages from somebody called Gary, who wanted to be my dresser. It was Robin. (He said), 'I've worked with everybody... I used to work with Carol Channing, that was a nightmare!' He'd just leave all of these phone messages and I have them all and I will always cherish them."
He adds, "There was nobody like him, ever... Robin had the amazing ability to say something that wasn't that funny, but the audience would scream because his commitment to the joke was so strong. He would just wrestle you to the ground, I've never seen anything like him and I don't think we ever will."

MCA via Everett Collection
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar was ahead of its time. Audiences can easily take for granted the immense importance of this film. It’s a high profile film in the 1990s that features three high profile actors, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, and Wesley Snipes playing gay men. Granted, they spend 99 percent of the movie in drag, but the film is monumental for the community. There’s wider acceptance of the gay community, appreciation for the art form of drag due to RuPaul’s Drag Race, and education about the clear distinctions between drag performers and trans women. But in 1995 this wasn’t the case. Sadly, this film is considered more of a cult classic than a major motion picture. All the same, the film is hilarious, quotable, and politically responsible. Here are some fun facts about the film:
Wesley Snipes and Jennifer Garner got to second base with the same man.Before he found success on Alias, Garner’s ex Michael Vartan had a major role in this film. In one scene, he antagonizes the ladies and Snipes grabs his privates and drags him by his member for an extended period of time.
Queen of 30 Rock You might think that Tracy Morgan and Snipes look equally bad in drag, but the real connection is Kathy Geiss. The nonverbal, unicorn loving CEO of GE was played by Marceline Hugot. She plays Katina one of the town’s residents in the film.
One Degree from Mindy Kaling As great as it would be to imagine Kaling playing a character named Noxema Jackson, the real connection is Beth Grant who plays The Mindy Project’s irate nurse Beverly also played irate townsperson Loretta.
Catwoman Connection Not only did the three leads all star with notable Catwoman Newmar in this film, all three have also starred with the most infamous Catwoman Halle Berry. Leguizamo in Executive Decision, Swayze in Father Hood, and Snipes in Jungle Fever. Snipes even dated Berry.
Start Your Engines, May the Best Woman Live Leguizamo has not been shy about his major friction with the late Swayze on set. Swayze was method and Leguizamo was improvising and making jokes to get more screen time. He says the two physically got into a fight until it was broken up by production. ChiChi, you in danger, girl!
A Cavalcade of Drag Stars This film was one of the first major motion pictures about drag. It gave early acting credits to RuPaul, Lady Bunny, Coco Peru, Laritza Dumount, and Flotilla DeBarge. It also was a major credit for the first transwoman on television Candis Cayne. Talk about helping to define the stars of tomorrow.
Work it Out! David Barton the founder of the popular New York City gym franchise has an early role as a muscle boy.
Drag is Leguizamo’s Bread and Butta’ By the time he did To Wong Foo, Leguizamo had already becoming accustomed to acting in drag. He played female roles in his one-man shows Mambo Mouth, Spic-O-Rama, and on his Fox series House of Buggin’.
Robin Williams: The Drag Years Although uncredited with his hilarious cameo, this film is sandwiched between Williams other two drag movies. In 1993, he gave old lady realness in Mrs. Doubtfire. In 1996, he played husband to a drag performer in The Birdcage.
Thanks for Everything, Carol Lynley! Before the producers secured the rights to Newmar’s name their alternate actress for the iconic photo that inspired the queens was Fantasy Island star Lynley. It doesn’t have the same ring to it, and she isn’t quite as statuesque.
It all goes back to Chinese Food. The name of the film was taken from a photo at a Times Square Chinese Restaurant that was later seen in the film where the ladies find the photo.
Curse of Wong Foo? Both Mel Gibson and Gary Oldman were in talks to potentially play drag queens in the film.
Is that a corn cob in your pocket, ma’am? Swayze surprised Chris Penn during the scene where he discovers Vida Boheme is a man. He hid a corn cob in his dress. Way to commit.

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Few filmmakers come out of the gate swinging with an epic two-hour feature film debut that goes on to achieve huge box office success. Most of them start small with commercials, shorts, and low-budget indie flicks. And some of the most renowned filmmakers started out creating visuals for the music world, eventually working their way up to narrative features. Here are just a few movie directors who have also made great contributions to the world of music video.
Spike Jonze
This year he took home his first Oscar for Her, winning the award Best Original Screenplay. But back in the '90s he brought us the video to one of the most infectiously delightful songs ever, Fatboy Slim's "Praise You." As you can see, his sense of whimsy hasn't changed over the years.
Hype Williams
Even if Belly wasn't the greatest cinematic achievement of all time (although, if you were a huge DMX fan back in the day, it probably was), it was exciting to see hip-hop video director extraordinaire Hype Williams create a feature film. Did it play a lot like a really long rap video at times? Yes. But that unforgettable scene with DMX watching Gummo was so amazing, it really didn't matter. Hype's love for cinema can also be seen in his "California Love" video for Tupac and Dr. Dre, which was partly inspired by Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. F. Gary Gray and Antoine Fuqua are two other acclaimed directors known for making waves on the hip hop music video scene.
Michael D. Ratner
This is a name you'll want to commit to memory. Ratner's work with New York's Hot 97, the leading voice in hip-hop radio, has resulted in some brilliant, satirical videos that went viral over the last couple of years. This year he and his crew at One Big Ball pictures (gotta love that name) made their Tribeca Film Festival debut with Ratner's hilarious short film The 30 Year Old Bris. Although he's continuing his work in music (he produced the upcoming Diddy/Meek Mill video for "I Want The Love"), Ratner also has more romantic comedies in the works. We suspect that good things are bound to come from a fella who's been hanging out with everyone from Spike Lee to 50 Cent and the great Jim Jones.
Jonathan Glazer
The director of Scarlett Johansson's most recent feature Under the Skin is also known for having made some powerful music videos in the '90s and early '00s. He worked with artists like Jamiroquai and Massive Attack before making his directorial debut with Sexy Beast (for which Ben Kingsley received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role). One of Glazer's most compelling works was the "Karma Police" video for Radiohead. Although he himself was critical of the finished product, it earned him the MTV Director of the Year award in 1997.
David Fincher
Fincher may be the best example of a director whose talent in music videos translated into brilliance in feature films. He went from being the director of many iconic and acclaimed videos (Paula Abdul's "Straight Up," Michael Jackson's "Who Is It," Justin Timberlake's "Suit &amp; Tie") to being the Oscar-nominated director behind Fight Club, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, House of Cards, and the upcoming Gone Girl.
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Best known for films like Love &amp; Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees, Prince-Bythewood has a good collection of throwback R&amp;B and hip-hop videos under her belt as well. This year she's returning to the big screen with the highly-anticipated Blackbird, starring Minnie Driver, Danny Glover, and Nate Parker, but it's fun to look back at her days with Fat Joe and Tony Sunshine.
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Robbie Williams has been handed a deadline to decide whether or not he will rejoin pop group Take That. Williams quit the British band in 1995 but reunited with them in 2010 after working with fellow singer Gary Barlow on the album Progress. He even joined them on tour between 2010 and 2011.
However, the Angels hitmaker has since gone on to work on more solo material, as well as welcoming his first daughter in 2012, and it is unclear how he will feature in the group's future plans.
Barlow has now given Williams until May (14) to decide if he will officially rejoin the group, telling U.K. chat show host Alan Carr, "We'd need to know what we're doing by the end of May... The thing with Robbie is he's family with us now. If he's not in the band he'll write on the record and you know we'll work with him on his next record. We do this now, we work together a lot. Whether he'll be in the final line-up I'm not sure."

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Hollywood is cyclical. People shift in and out of importance all the time. Orange Is the New Black is responsible for the return of Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew, and Jason Biggs. It’s also set to bring back Point Break star Lori Petty. Betty White and Joan Rivers are also having a major career resurgence. Peter Scolari is on Girls. Angela Bassett is on American Horror Story. People are popping back into the limelight all the time. Here are a few nominations of actors that need to step back into center stage.
GALLERY: 14 Actors We Must Rescue From Obscurity
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